Putting the lie to Jamaat's claim of not being involved in the 1971 atrocities

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What Jamaat leaders said in '71
Hasan Jahid Tusher and Ashfaq Wares Khan

Jamaat-e-Islami was directly involved in war crimes in 1971 as part of the Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams groups and peace committees, inciting killings of Liberation War supporters and collaborating with the Pakistani occupation force, according to speeches and writings in 1971 by the then Jamaat leadership and the party's current amir and secretary general.

In 1971, Golam Azam was the Jamaat amir while Motiur Rahman Nizami, the present amir, was the president of Islami Chhatra Shangha and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, the present Jamaat secretary general, led its Dhaka unit.

Their speeches and writings published in Jamaat's mouthpiece, the daily Sangram, during the Liberation War in 1971 chronicle their direct involvement in supporting the Pakistani occupation force, their leadership in collaborating with the army, and their activities to incite and encourage annihilation of the liberation forces.

On Thursday, Mojaheed denied Jamaat's involvement in war crimes and with the Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams groups. He claimed that Jamaat did not work against the Liberation War in 1971 and that there is no war criminal in the country.

"In fact, anti-Liberation forces never even existed," Mojaheed told reporters after Jamaat's dialogue with the Election Commission on electoral reforms.

As a response to the Jamaat secretary general's claims, following are selections from the reports published in the daily Sangram and documents of the then West Pakistan government:

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, president of Dhaka unit of East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Shangha (ICS), directed his party workers to build Al-Badr Bahini to resist freedom fighters, according to a "Fortnightly secret report on the situation in East Pakistan" the political section of the then East Pakistan home ministry used to send to the head of the government General Yahya Khan.

Mojaheed at a meeting of the ICS in Rangpur on October 17 directed the party workers to build the Al-Badr Bahini. He told the meeting that anti-Islamist forces must be resisted. He also emphasised organising youths to join Al-Badr.

Al-Badr day was observed in Dhaka on November 7, 1971 and Mojaheed announced a four-point declaration that said, "We do not believe in any map of Hindustan on earth. We will not rest until the name of Hindustan is erased from the world.

"From tomorrow, you will not be allowed to sell, publicise or keep at libraries books either written by Hindus or written in their support," according to a report published in the daily Azad on November 8, 1971.

The Al-Badr was assigned a variety of combat and non-combat tasks, including taking part in operations, spying against the Muktibahini, interrogation, working as guides for the regular army, assassination, detecting and killing Bangalee intellectuals, looting and supplying women and children to rape, according to Wikipedia.